Combination battery terminal



y 1968 5. H. STOUTENBURGH 3,384,857

COMBINATION BATTERY TERMINAL Filed May 17, 1966 33 29 33 ll [IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII III]! I IIIA III/I 4- 32 1 3 ll /3 I H 4' v3 INVENTOR 57 ll 37 I Guy/f5 TOU TEN BURG-H ATTORNEY United States Patent G 3,384,857 COMBINATION BATTERY TERMINAL Guy H. Stoutenburgh, 1200 S. Dixie Highway, Delray Beach, Fla. 33444 Filed May 17, 1966, Ser. No. 559,777 6 Claims. (Cl. 33932) ABSTRACT OF THE IHSCLOSURE A terminal for an electric battery which is capable of functioning in any one of three ways to replace any one of three different types of terminals normally employed with the battery, depending upon the manner in which the battery is intended to be used.

This invention relates to a combination terminal for use with electric batteries of the type having two contacts which project from one wall, usually an end Wall of the battery casing.

Such batteries conventionally employ three types of terminals for making electrical connection to the battery. A first type utilizes the Fahnstock or clip-type connection involving a folded leaf spring including a bottom portion having a struck-up loop which extends through a slot in the top portion, when the top portion is depressed, for receiving a conductor wire which is passed through said loop and clamped therein by the top portion, when released. A second type involves a nut which engages a threaded terminal post and which clamps a conductor wire between a base of the terminal and a nut. A third type utilizes a coiled spring which yieldably bears against a contact in the housing of an electric lantern.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a terminal capable of performing the function of each of the three terminals, as heretofore mentioned, thereby eliminating the need for providing electric batteries with different types of terminals depending upon the intended use of the batteries.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawing illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a View partly in elevation, partly in section and partly broken away, showing a portion of a conventional electric battery, equipped with two of the combination terminals;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view of the terminal taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 44 of FIGURE 2 but showing the terminal in a fully extended position, and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view partly in section and partly in elevation, similar to FIGURE 1, but showing a different manner of utilizing the terminals for making an electrical connection.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the improved combination terminal in its entirety, and comprising the invention is designated generally 7 and includes a bottom section 8, a top section 9 and a compression spring 10, as best seen in FIGURE 2.

The bottom section 8 includes a bottom wall 11 having a centrally disposed threaded opening 12, and a cylindrical wall 13 which is formed integral with and extends upwardly from the bottom wall 11 and which ICE has an inturned upwardly inclined annular flange 14 at its upper end defining an opening 15. The opening 15 is disposed axially of the bottom section 3 and is somewhat smaller in diameter than the chamber 16, defined by the wall 13.

The top section 9 comprises an elongated hollow plunger of cylindrical cross section including a top wall 17 and a cylindrical wall 18 which extends from the top wall and which is of a diameter to extend slidably through the opening 15. The wall 18 has an out-turned donwwardly inclined annular apron 19 at its lower end which fits slidably in the chamber 16. It will be under stood that the annular flange 14 is formed after the plunger 9 and spring 19 are positioned in the bottom section 8. The wall 18 is provided with a slot 20 which extends from the end wall 17 through the apron 19 and which registers with a notch 21 formed in a part .of the flange 14, as best seen in FIGURE 3.

The spring 10 includes a bottom portion formed of several convolutions 22, at least a part of the lower one of which rests on the upper side of the bottom wall 11 around the opening 12. The uppermost one of the convolutions 22 terminates in a radial extension 22' which projects outwardly through the slot 20. The spring 10 includes a straight leg 23 which extends upwardly from the extension 22 through the notch 21 and which is disposed outwardly of the wall 18, as seen in FIGURES 2 and 3. A ring-shaped portion 24 constitutes the opposite end of the spring 10 and bears against the under side of the end wall 17. The portion 24 is connected to the leg 23 by a radial extension 25 which extends through the upper end of the slot 20. It will be-readily apparent that the spring 10 can be applied to the plunger 9 before the plunger is applied to the lower section 3, by inserting the ring portion 24 through the open lower end of the plunger and by passing the extensions 25 and 22 through the slot 20.

As best seen in FIGURE 4, the wall 13 has diametrically aligned openings 26 which are located adjacent the flange 14 and the wall 18 of the plunger 9 has diametrically aligned openings 27 which are disposed adjacent the apron 19. The openings 26 are disposed at right angles to the notch 21 and the openings 27 are disposed at right angles to the slot 20, as seen in FIGURE 3.

For the purpose of illustrating the application and use of the combination battery terminal 7, an end portion of a conventional electric battery 28 is illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 5 including an end wall 29 of the battery casing 30 which shows two cells 31. Two corresponding terminals 32 are supported by the casing wall 29. Each terminal 32 includes a base 33 (FIGURE 2) which bears against the outer side of the wall 29 and which has a stem 34 which extends inwardly of the casing 30 through an opening 35 in the wall 29, and which stem is secured in the opening 35 in any conventional manner. Each terminal 32 also includes a threaded post 36 which extends upwardly from the base 33. The two stems 34 are electrically connected by conductor means 37 to the cells 31, as seen in FIGURES 1 and 5. The parts 29 to 37 of the battery 28 are conventional.

A combination terminal 7 is attached to each battery terminal 32 by threading the post 36 through the opening 12 until the bottom wall 11 rests on the base 33. The plungers 9 of the two terminals 7 are depressed against the action of the springs 13 to align the openings 27 with the openings 26 so that electrical conductor wires 38 may be passed through the aligned openings 26 and 27 of the two terminals 7, after which the plunger-s are released to allow the springs 10 to bias the plungers 9 upwardly or outwardly of the bottom sections 8 for clamping the conductor wires 38 in the terminals 7, as

illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2, to thus form an electrical connection between the battery 28 and any electrical unit, not shown, to be energized thereby and from which the conductor wires 38 lead. It will be noted that the upper convolution 22 of each terminal 7 is disposed below the openings 27 so as not to obstruct passage of the wire 38 through the openings 26 and 27 when the plunger 9 is displaced inwardly to align the openings 26 and 27.

The parts 8, 9 and .10 are formed of electrical conducting material; however, should a good contact fail to exist between the parts 8 and 9, the spring 10 will always provide an electrical connection between said parts. The spring 10 also functions to key the plunger 9 to the bottom section '8 to prevent rotation of the plunger 9 relative to the section 8, so that the openings 26 and 27 will align when the plunger 9 is depressed. The spring 10 normally holds the plunger 9 in a fully projected position with the apron abutting the flange 14, as seen in FIGURE 4, and with the openings 27 out of alignment with the openings 26.

It will also be apparent that the lower section 8 could be unscrewed part way from the base 33 on the post 36 and then utilized as a nut for clamping the conductor wire 38 between the base 33 and the bottom wall 11 by again tightening the lower section 8 on the post 36.

The combination terminals are shown in FIGURE functioning in lieu of coil spring terminals as conventionally employed on batteries of electric lanterns, for example. The plungers 9 are shown depressed and bean ing against contacts 39 of a lantern housing 40 in which the battery 28 is contained. The available battery space in such lantern housings 40 varies considerably so that the distance between the battery end wall 29 and the contacts 39 may vary substantially. Since the plungers 9 are constructed to telescope over the springs 10, said plungers may be depressed or retracted to a maximum extent into the bottom sections 8 to afford the maximum range of travel and thus enable the terminals 7 to function in the manner as illustrated in FIGURE 5 with housings of electrical lanterns and the like wherein the spacing between the housing contacts 39 and the battery Wall 29 vary substantially.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

I. A terminal for an electric battery comprising a hollow bottom section having an open top, a hollow top section fitting telescopically into the bottom section and having an open bottom, a compression spring having a lower end disposed in and bearing against a part of the bottom section and an upper end disposed in and hearing against a part of the top section, each of said sections having a pair of diametrically aligned openings, said spring normally retaining the top section in an extended position relative to the bottom section and with the openings thereof out of alignment with the .openings of the bottom section, and means slidably confining the top section in the bottom section, said top section being retractable into the bottom section for aligning the openings of the two sections to receive a conductor wire which is clamped in and electrically connected to the terminal when the top section is biased toward a projected position by the spring, said bottom section having a recessed part, said spring including a straight part extending longitudinally of the sections and engaging said IC- cessed part of the bottom section, said straight spring part and said recessed part slidably keying the top section to the bottom section whereby the openings of the top section will move into alignment with the openings of the bottom section when the top section is retracted.

2. A battery terminal as in claim .1, said part of the top section comprising an outer end wall, said top section including a cylindrical wall extending from said end wall and having a slot extending from end to end thereof, said first mentioned end of the spring comprising a plurality of the convolutions, the straight part of the spring being disposed externally of said cylindrical wall, said spring including extensions projecting through said slot and extending from the ends of said straight part, one of said extensions connecting the straight portion to the last mentioned end of the spring and said other extension connecting the straight portion to an end convolution of the spring.

3. A battery terminal as in claim 2, said means slidably confining the top section in the bottom section comprising an annular inturned flange defining the open end of the bottom section and an annular outturned apron defining the open end of the top section, said apron engaging the flange when the top section is disposed in a fully projected position, and said flange having a notch constituting said recessed part of the bottom section.

4. A battery terminal as in claim 1, said spring including a plurality of convolutions disposed within the bottom section, and said top section defining a chamber which telescopes over the spring convolutions when the.

top section is retracted into the bottom section to permit the top section to assume a fully retracted position relative to the bottom section.

5. A battery terminal as in claim 1, and said bottom section having a bottom wall provided with a threaded opening adapted to threadedly receive a threaded post of the battery for attaching the terminal thereto.

6. A battery terminal as in claim 5, said top and bottom sections and the spring being formed of an electrical conducting material, and said spring forming an electrical connection between the said sections.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 781,091 1/1905 Phillips 3 39-254 965,103 7/1910 Goodridge 339255 1,204,457 11/1916 Kreeft 339-254 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

I. H. MCGLYNN, Assistant Examiner. 

